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Austin Kleon
Typewriter interview with Laura Lippman

Typewriter interview with Laura Lippman

10 questions for the prolific novelist about Baltimore, writing, and visionary art

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Austin Kleon
Jul 08, 2025
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Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon
Typewriter interview with Laura Lippman
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Hey y’all,

Laura Lippman is a prolific New York Times bestselling author who has published over two dozen works of fiction. Her latest novel — a summer beach read if ever there was one! — is called Murder Takes A Vacation. This interview was conducted via the magic of the United States Postal Service. (For a plain-text version with links, see the P.S. below.)

Describe your perfect day in Baltimore.  So four days a week, I eat Starbucks sous vide eggs for breakfast, but 3 days a week -- T, Th, Sa -- I get to eat peanut butter on toast. So a perfect day starts with a walk, listening to Gerard Doyle read a Mick Herron book. I grab my coffee (cappucino #extra wet") and come home, eat peanut butter on toast, drink my coffee AND a Topo Chico, working Spelling Bee, Connections and Strands.  Then I write. And by midday, if I've hit my 1,000-word quota, I get to putter and walk some more, read for pleasure. At cocktail hour, I like a Beefeater martini, very dry, with a twist.  This is usually accompanied by a Royal Farms hot pretzel or cacahuetes "Japanese' style," which I buy at a Mexican market.  If I'm alone, that might be dinner.   But on a perfect day, I'm with my daughter and I make us a great dinner.
I'm fascinated by fiction writers because I don't think in terms of character, plot, etc. How does a story usually start for you?  A character and a situation and a lot of "What ifs?" and "What thens?" My most recent book started with a first line: Mrs. Blossom had never been upgraded in her life.
What do you do for exercise? Do you detect any emotional, spiritual, or creative benefits?  I have a set, maybe rigid regimen. (Redundant?) M,W,F, I strength train via Zoom with a personal trainer I've known for 18 years and consider a good friend. (He was at my 50th surprise birthday, I attended his wedding.) Todd doesn't read my novels, but he likes to help me brainstorm plots, story problems.  On Sunday, Thursday, I do cardio for 40-50 minutes. Here, problems also get solved because I am NOT thinking about the book. It opens some backdoor into my mind.  Finally, I try to walk five miles a day. Dickens walked 12-20, so let me be the first, but not last to note: I'm no Dickens!
For a while you were typing out your favorite poems -- could you type one for me?  EARLY CAPITALISM  they are perfecting the pillow  with which you are being suffocated  now it sings to you  and shows you pictures  Joe Wenderoth
Do you have any advice for people who want to write?  Read. And be ruthlessly honest with yourself: Do you want to write or do you just want to publish? Don't get me wrong, being able to make a living as a novelist is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. But publishing is not a panacea. The day your book comes out -- even if it's a bestseller or made into a blockbuster -- you're still going to be you. The perks of publishing are cotton-candy pleasures. Writing is where the real joy happens, even if it feels like a slog at times.

This typewriter interview is made possible thanks to the kind support of paid subscribers.

Do you have any hobbies? Do you collect anything?  I collect robots made from discarded things. I'm actually a somewhat serious collector of visionary art (what a lot of people call outsider art) and in 2022, I joined the docent program at the American Visionary Art Museum, which is within walking distance of my home in Baltimore.  I'm also an acolyte in the temple of ModPo, the shorthand name used by those who return every fall to study Contemporary Modern Poetry through a free online course.
What's your relationship to music? Do you sing or play an instrument? Is there a song that makes you happy?  I'm such a mediocre singer and I am surrounded by real musical talent: My stepson (piano) daughter (singing)• I took singing lessons fora while, but I didn't have the discipline to practice. (Do scales, warm-ups, etc.) I love a broad range of songs. Sondheim, jazz standards, country, Elvis Costello, the punk and "New Wave" of my college days.  I really have great affection for the song "Wichita Lineman." Especially cover versions. (REM! And, of course, Johnny* Cash) But there's nothing wrong with Glen Campbell's. *Top 5 Columbo villain
I "smoke" a cigarette peneil when I'M in the studio. Do you perform any silly rituals when you're at work?  I have a deck of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategy Cards, so I usually draw one from the deck. Today's said "Take a break." I didn't. I wrote 1120 words, then rewarded myself by doing this q-and-a, which is so much fun. Thank you!
 John Waters says he has "youth spies" that keep him up-to-date on culture. Do you have any youth spies?  I actually have a lot of young friends. I'm one of two Boomers in a group chat of women writers and there was a time a few years ago when I mentioned I had just learned that I had a small lump sum pension coming to me from the Tribune Co., which had owned the Baltimore Sun when I worked there. One 30-something asked: What's a pension? Another asked: What's money?   I also have a 15-year-old daughter. She has good taste in music, but, man, I hate what Pinterest does to her brain.
Do you see yourself as part of an artistic lineage? Who would you place in your creative family tree?  Miss Marple and Lew Archer had a baby and here I am.

Big thanks to Laura for being the 8th participant in this series of typewriter interviews!

Do check out her new book and her newsletter, “Shaved Meats, Piled High.”

xoxo,

Austin

P.S. Here’s a full transcription of the interview with links:

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